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Desktops won't usually be a problem, and there are a lot of factors to whether a laptop will buzz or not (grounded plug, environment, noisy improperly grounded power sources, etc).. Quite often it will be perfectly silent at home but then out in live settings a buzz will show up .. In general a USB audio out is not susceptible to the same possibilities.
Adding a stereo DI (Radial Pro D2) with a ground lift has solved most of my laptop problems. I use an 8 channel line mixer for my keyboards/laptop input (ART MX822), which solves the stereo/mono summing issues, and put the DI on the end. The lift works well when the power (everywhere) is sketchy.
I don't always use the laptop (only in our Floyd tribute for SFX and Cynthia (EMS) for "Shine on" "On the Run", etc). My goal is to move all sounds/VSTs OFF of the laptop and never use it out live again.
Cheers everyone, my first post! I love this forum. SO helpful.
Hm... Laptops are mostly not grounded anyway, they are doubly insulated. The majority use a "live and neutral" C7 connector (same as many Nords). Where would the 'ground loop' be generated in the laptop that a 'ground lift' setting in the DI would resolve?
Perhaps it is between the submixer and the mixer (if they are connected to different mains rings) but not because a laptop is connected to the mixer, I would think. Please correct me if I am wrong.
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Last edited by Mr_-G- on 21 Feb 2015, 18:29, edited 1 time in total.
Honestly i don't know the ins and outs of it, but I've experienced the issue with a number of laptops in many situations.. Ableton rigs, as vst hosts, other misc. A direct box ground lift usually solves it, but in a particular warehouse studio I play in a lot I would get some level of buzz no matter what. Unplugging the power source from the laptop usually has been a fix, but not always and then you risk losing power during the performance. USB audio outs (the peavey I posted before, an maudio fast track or another fostex version I have) never have the issue. My favorite solution if I don't need inputs is the peavey usbp
Thanks for the follow up. If unpluggin the brick stops the buzz, could it be the EMI leaking into the audio? Perhaps audio cables running close to it? I think it is important to try to find out why these things happen, we all benefit from each other's experiences. Buying a stereo Radial DI box is not cheap (you can almost buy a synth for that money) if it won't resolve the problem (although perhaps it would be a good investment in the long run).
As for getting to the bottom of this... Its been a while since I was fighting these particular battles. I dont do a lot of ableton anymore and for the sounds I was using the vsts for in the end I gave up on the laptop, bought an old korg sp100, used my 80s synth for an organ, and bided my time til I could buy a nord.
Now i have the electro into two powered twelves and don't have any buzz problems at all and never think about using a computer because the sounds I have are more than enough!
But yeah.. Could have been emi getting into the signal path from a lot of sources..
Also just to throw out there I have a great stereo DI box that cost me 40 bucks, the ART dual z direct.. Always worked great for me and I'll probably use it with my 12s sometimes if I need to.
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